The full coverage of WebSummit Lisboa 2016

Days before the WebSummit we were so excited that we couldn’t talk about anything else. We went to a party, and we met a friend, who is one of those geeks with an enormous ability for all the tech things, and of course we asked him if he was going to the WebSummit. And he answered: “It won´t be interesting, there are going to be so many people that hardly anyone can sell an idea”. With such pessimism coming from him and since we were not thinking of going to sell any idea, we answered that besides that, there were also the talks where we can hear very interesting people, and even more pessimistic, he said: “yes, but the talks you can watch online and you can see and hear them better.”

Today, after 3 days and 2 nights living and breathing WebSummit, we have an answer to our friend. You can watch a football game or a concert at home, you won´t be in the middle of the crowd, you can see everything in great quality and can review it if you missed something, so why are you going to see any of these events alive?!?! With the WebSummit it’s the same thing! The crowd and the energy is really something, sometimes it even gives you chills.

And that’s exactly what I felt at the WebSummit, we were all there for the same purpose, to get to know each other, try to do business and create partnerships, listen to new opinions and new ideas. We felt that we were always welcomed because that’s why we where all there.I met some amazing people who, at the age of 30, had already lived in the most exotic places and had the courage to open businesses in those countries where bureaucracy seems impossible. Inspiring people, who start from scratch and risk their stable job, to do what they like, struggling daily against situations, that leave most people K.O on the first round. And we need this, we need to be surround by this incredible people, who push us further and make us want to be better. NightSummit was the best time for sharing experiences, at night people weren’t so stressed, conversations were deeper and strong partnerships seemed to emerge, but only time will tell.

During the day, we also met a lot of new people that we chatted with, but everything is more frenetic because there are millions of things happening at the same time and no one wants to lose a pinch. With dozens of stages, with talks happening one after another, it was sometimes impossible to get to attend the talks we had scheduled, mainly because we couldn’t get in time, or because on our way to the next talk we met someone to talk with.

The talks in the Meo arena were beyond spectacular, the size of the arena allowed to feel the energy of 15K people. And when the speakers were really good, and they knew how to engage the audience, they would take the arena to the limit, as we saw happening with two of the talks that we assist. One of them was with the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I know that he is an actor and a hottie, so it’s normal that everyone went crazy, and it’s all true, but Joseph also killed it with his presentation about “the difference between a crowd and a community”. He really has an incredible stage presence. The minute he entered the stage he involved the audience, as well as Gary Vee who was the only speaker that got a standing ovation.

Another fantastic thing, was the app created for the event, you probably have heard that sometimes there were problems with the net and that app didn’t work, well it’s true, but it’s also true that we rarely had problems and the app was really helpful but you could also use the paper flayer with the schedule as a backup plan.

The best thing of tha app was the chat. Imagine you wanted to talk with Miroslava Duma, yes the one and only. Getting her direct contact sometimes proves to be quite difficult, given the mediatism of the Fashion Tech guru. Now imagine that you could send her a message through the chat, ok we did not have an answer, it’s true, but we saw that she read it so we know she received the information we wanted to give her. Fortunately, this was not always the case, since we had the opportunity to schedule several meetings through the chat that allowed us to make the meetings during the event.

As was the case of Maria Zhadanova, the Head of Digital of Vogue Ukraine. It was very interesting to talk to Maria about the challenges that a fashion style magazine has in a country that sadly is going through a conflict. It’s amazing to realize that even with the strength of the name, Vogue, who has only been in the Ukraine for the past 3 years, has to overcome issues such as being accepted in a country that is in conflict, or even organizing events at such a difficult time. We pray that the conflict will end quickly and we congratulate the Vogue Ukraine team, that even in such a complicated period, and for many of us unimaginable, struggles daily to keep the magazine and its clients.

Politics, investors, entrepreneurs, professional surfers, fashion influencer, startup founders, astronauts, and the big names from the valley you could have the opportunity to meet them, take pictures or even talk and exchange some ideas, during the WebSummit. After Miroslava Duma speech about her digital empire Buro 24/7, which was very interesting, we only wish it was longer, we could finally met her. And we have to say how sweet and kind she was for us and everyone else, we could easily realize that she was in an hurry, but she couldn’t leave us hanging, so we had the opportunity to chat with Miroslava about a Portuguese Buro, unfortunately, we had bad news, we will not have a Buro here in Portugal, but there will soon be a Portuguese version, in consequence of the Brazilian market. Well, we have to live with that…

There were a lot of things that we could test in these 3 days of Summit, BMW I8 was one of those things. BMW I8 is without a doubt a luxury car, it looks sensational inside and out, the overall look of the I8 is as dramatic as you expect of any supercar. And when we were making the test drive, people were staring and taking pictures, and for seconds we felt so important 😉 but then we realize that the super star was BMW I8. We have to tell you that i8 has a plug-in hybrid drivetrain that uses a combination of electric motors, lithium-ion batteries and a turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine, to provide supercar performance along with city car running costs. Who would imagine that a car with this mix it’s still easily fast enough to put a big, stupid smile on your face 😉

In terms of overall organization, we have to congratulate the entire WebSummit team, because it was TOP. The organization team did a really great job. In terms of marketing was genius. They started early. Just a year in advance, different updates came in our mailbox. All about attendee numbers and confirmed speakers.

The 4 pavilions and the Meo arena were always clean, imagine the trash that 50K people drinking, eating, smoking, leave behind.Volunteers were everywhere, and easily identified from the crowd by wearing the WebSummit pink t-shirts. Always very friendly and helpful, they tried to help everyone, and if they didn’t know the answer they would try the best to get it. And it was not only in FIL that the volunteers were, at NightSummit we found a small group of 3 volunteers who were around the age of 20, with whom we immediately chat and invited to drink, and Guess What?!? They couldn’t accept it because they were working. How professional is that? 😉

Between the pavilions there was the food area, where you could buy your lunch, and the funny thing is that around 6/7 pm we can’t be sure, they simply disappear and it seemed like they had never been there. No garbage was left behind.Water and coffee were free inside the pavilions for everyone, after all it’s an essential good 😉Of course there are always things to improve, and that will certainly be exceeded at the next WebSummit, but for now we can only thank Paddy Cosgrave for choosing Lisbon to be the stage for an event with the visibility that WebSummit has and that made Lisbon the city that everyone was talking about. Everyone that we talked to, were impress by our city and most of them had fall in love for our sunny Lisbon and the warm weather that was felt in November.

Next year there will be more and we will be waiting for all of you with “saudade”, like only the Portuguese can feel.